Annex 1: The Committee's visit to Sierra Leone
and Liberia
The International Development Committee visited Sierra
Leone and Liberia from 9-19 June 2014. The Committee members participating
in the visit were Rt Hon Sir Malcolm Bruce (Chair), Sir Tony Cunningham,
Pauline Latham, Jeremy Lefroy and Michael McCann. They were accompanied
by David Harrison (Clerk) and Louise Whitley (Committee Specialist).
Among those the Committee met in Sierra Leone were:
the President, Ernest Bai Koroma, the Finance and Health Ministers,
the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, senior MPs from the Government
and Opposition parties and the Clerk of the Parliament, the Governor
of the Bank of Sierra Leone, representatives from the Anti-Corruption
Commission, Audit Services Sierra Leone, National Minerals Agency,
Extractives Industry Transparency Initiative, Sierra Leone Budget
Advocacy Network, National Revenue Authority & National Advocacy
Coalition on Extractives and the General Manager of the Port of
Freetown
We also met the Head of the International Security
Advisory Team and members of the Sierra Leone police; representatives
of UN organisations, including UNICEF, UNFPA and UNDP, and other
multilateral organisations, including the African Development
Bank, European Union and the World Bank.
We visited Moyamba and Bo, seeing projects in those
cities and en route. We were able to look at the work of Fambul
Tok and TIMAP; we visited a Second Chance School project and met
the beneficiaries (all women) of Keeping Street Children in School
through Family Businesses. We saw the Bo Solid Waste Project and
met the mayor and other representatives of/Bo City Council. We
also went round a tea factory and a chicken farm, which had received
funding from the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund. In and near
Freetown we visited the Craig Bellamy Foundation and the Aberdeen
Women's Centre
In Liberia, the Committee met President Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf of Liberia, the Finance, Health and Lands, Mines and Energy
Ministries and representatives of several multilateral organisations,
including the African Development Bank, the EU, UNDP, UNICEF,
WHO and the World Bank, as well as representatives of other bilateral
donors including Ireland and Sweden and the USA. The Committee
also visited the Liberian Geological Survey.
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